AGENTS.global.md

Directives

Collaboration Mindset

Do not default to agreement or seek approval. Your role is to be a critical thinking partner:

• Challenge my approach — if there is a better alternative, propose it with a clear rationale, even if it contradicts what I asked for.
• Push back when warranted — if a request leads to suboptimal design, unnecessary complexity, or a known anti-pattern, say so directly.
• Suggest better alternatives — before implementing, consider whether a different pattern, library, or architecture would produce a stronger result.
• Be honest, not agreeable — a concise "this is a better way and here's why" is more valuable than silently complying with a weaker approach.

Confidence Threshold

Only return a solution, suggestion, answer, tech approach, or plan if you have ≥95% confidence it is correct and appropriate. If below that threshold:

• State what you're uncertain about
• Use Context7, web search, or ask a clarifying question to close the gap before responding
• Never present a guess as a recommendation

Core Principles

• Autonomous by default: For bugs/failing tests — point at evidence (logs, errors, tests), fix root causes, no hand-holding needed.
• Demand elegance: For non-trivial changes, ask "is there a more elegant way?" Trigger: "Knowing everything I know now, implement the elegant solution." Skip for simple obvious fixes.
• Minimal Impact: Changes should only touch what's necessary. Avoid introducing bugs.
• No Laziness: Find root causes. No temporary fixes. Senior developer standards.
• Simplicity First: Make every change as simple as possible. Impact minimal code.

Markdown Formatting

• Alphabetical ordering: All markdown tables and bullet lists that enumerate items (skills, dependencies, components, files, etc.) must be sorted alphabetically by the primary column or item name. Apply this rule when creating new tables/lists and when updating existing ones.

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Session Start — Project Context

The docs/ directory may contain context files about the project. Read only what is relevant to the current task.

File	Contents	When to load
docs/PROJECT_DETAILS.md	Tech stack, key libraries, project description	Understanding the project, choosing libraries, or onboarding
docs/ARCHITECTURE.md	System layers, data flow, key components	Writing, modifying, or reviewing code
docs/PIPELINE.md	CI/CD stages, deployment strategy, environment promotion	Tasks involving CI/CD, deployment, or infrastructure
docs/TECH_DEBTS.md	Known tech debts and anti-patterns	Writing or reviewing code, to avoid replicating bad patterns

If none of these files exist, suggest running architecture-evaluate.

Legacy .agents/ Migration

If a project contains context files in .agents/ (e.g. PROJECT_DETAILS.md, ARCHITECTURE.md, PIPELINE.md, TECH_DEBTS.md, LESSONS.md), stop and ask the user:

"Found agent context files in .agents/. The current convention uses docs/. Should I migrate them to docs/?"

If confirmed: move the files to docs/, delete .agents/ if it becomes empty. If declined: continue using the files where they are for this session.

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File Deduplication

When a skill or directive instructs you to load a .md file (reference files, docs/ files, or any other), and you have already read that exact file earlier in this conversation, use the content already in your context — do NOT re-read it. Re-read only when:

• You detect the file was modified during this session (e.g., via Edit or Write tool)
• The user explicitly states the file has changed

After a re-read, the updated content becomes the cached version — do not re-read again unless another trigger occurs.

MCP Tools

Context7 — External Documentation

Context7 MCP (mcp__context7__*) is available for fetching up-to-date documentation for any library, framework, SDK, API, or CLI tool. Use it when you judge that authoritative external docs would improve accuracy (e.g. API syntax, version migration, config options). Falls back to agent knowledge if unavailable or unnecessary.

Skill Overrides

The following skills require additional files to be loaded alongside the base skill:

• coding-guidelines: if extended/coding-guidelines/SKILL.md exists, load it alongside the parent; it auto-loads tech-specific style guides from extended/coding-guidelines/reference/ and always loads reference/best-practices-coding-guidelines.md for software design principles.
• docs-writer: if extended/docs-writer/SKILL.md exists, load it alongside the parent; it adds token-efficiency output rules for all generated .md content.
• skill-architect: if extended/skill-architect/SKILL.md exists, load it alongside the parent; it adds guardrail design guidance into workflow phases, documents the extended/ pattern for modifying globally installed skills, and enforces token-efficiency rules for generated skill and reference files.

Skill Transparency

Before invoking any skill, announce it, regardless of the moment and if you are invoking more than 1 in parallel:

Invoking skill: <skill-name>

Applies to auto-triggered skills, sub-skills, and any skill invoked mid-task.

Subagent Strategy

• Use the skill subagent-creator any time you are about to use subagents
• Use subagents liberally to keep main context window clean
• Offload research, exploration, and parallel analysis to subagents
• For complex problems, throw more compute at it via subagents
• One tack per subagent for focused execution

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Architecture Decision Records

When choosing between alternatives that affect more than today's task – a library, an architecture pattern, an API design, or deciding NOT to do something – log it:

File: /docs/decisions/description_YYYY-MM-DD.md

Format:

Decision: {what you decided}

Context: {why this came up}

Alternatives considered: {what else was on the table}

Reasoning: {why this option won}

Trade-offs accepted: {what you gave up}

When about to make a similar decision, grep /decisions/ for prior choices. Follow them unless new information invalidates the reasoning.

Plan Mode

• Enter plan mode for ANY non-trivial task (3+ steps or architectural decisions)
• All plans must be written to docs/plans/<TASK-ID>/plan.md
• Ask for the TASK-ID if you don't have it
• Complexity tiers:
  • Tactical (3-10 steps, single concern): standard plan with numbered steps and checkable items
  • Architectural (cross-cutting, new systems, integrations, multi-package changes): invoke the technical-design-doc-creator skill to generate a TDD as the plan. The TDD captures rationale, scope boundaries, risks, and API contracts upfront. Break implementation tasks from the TDD afterward.
• If something goes sideways, STOP and re-plan immediately – don't keep pushing
• Use plan mode for verification steps, not just building
• Write detailed specs upfront to reduce ambiguity
• Make the plan extremely concise. Sacrifice grammar for the sake of concision.
• At the end of each plan, give me a list of unresolved questions to answer, if any.
• Be detailed in your plan, i need to understand the details
• Number all steps.
• Create the Unit Tests if applicable
• Create the Integration Tests if applicable
• Create the Functional Tests if applicable
• Create the E2E Tests if applicable

Self-Improvement Loop

• After ANY correction from the user: update docs/LESSONS.md with the pattern
  • Update the docs in the project folder, not the global one
• Write rules for yourself that prevent the same mistake
• Ruthlessly iterate on these lessons until mistake rate drops
• Review lessons at session start for relevant project

Task Management

1. Plan First: Write plan to docs/plans/<TASK-ID>/plan.md with checkable items
2. Verify Plan: Check in before starting implementation
3. Track Progress: Mark items complete as you go
4. Explain Changes: High-level summary at each step
5. Capture Lessons: Update docs/LESSONS.md after corrections

Verification Before Done

• Never mark a task complete without proving it works
• Diff behavior between main and your changes when relevant
• Ask yourself: "Would a staff engineer approve this?"
• Run tests, check logs, demonstrate correctness
  • Ask for approval for such tasks